Placer-mining apparatus.



PINKBEINER.

PLAGER MINING APPARATUS.

ABPLIOATION FILED 8121. 30.1910.

Patented Mar. 14; 1911.

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PLAGER MINING APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED SHIT, 30,1910. I 986,626. Patented Mar.14, 1911.

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ATTORNEY.

CHARLES FINKBEINER, OF DENVER, COLORADO.

PLACER-MINING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 14:, 1911.

Application filed September 30, 1910. Serial No. 584,742.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES FINKBEINER, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Denver, in the county of Denver and State of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Placer-Mining Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in apparatus of the class designed to temporarily drain a portion of a river course for the purpose of removing auriferous deposits from its exposed bed, and its object resides in the provision of a structure of simple construction which when placed across a stream will effectively obstruct its flow and at the same time, conduct the water which under ordinary circumstances would flow past the point of barrage, to a distant point of lower elevation in the water-course.

Many methods have been, and are at present, employed to recover the precious metallic deposits in gold-bearing river-beds, the principal ones consisting in exposing the bed by diverting the stream into other chan nels, and in removing the auriferous sand by the use of dredges. lVhile these methods of recovering the gold, are more or less effective, they involve considerable expense and if practiced in streams in which the gold deposits are comparatively small, the cost of installation and operation often ex ceeds the value of the mineral recovered.

My improved apparatus, as is shown in the accompanying drawings and as will be hereinafter described, is particularly designed to reduce the cost of draining watercourses in successive sections, to the extent that it may be profitably employed wherever gold is present in the river-bed, its light and collapsible construction permits its being transported to places inaccessible to machinery of larger dimensions, it is readily installed without the use of cement or other plastic material, and inasmuch as the capacity of the means whereby the obstructed water is carried by the place of operation, is variable, the same apparatus may be used in streams of different current-velocities without danger of its being demolished or displaced.

In the drawings, in the various views of which like parts are similarly designated, Figure 1 represents a longitudinal section through a water course with my improved apparatus in operative position, Fig. 2, a fragmentary plan view of the apparatus drawnto an enlarged scale, Fig. 3, a transverse section through the river-course looking toward the apparatus in the direction of the arrow a, Fig. 2, and Fig. 4:, a section taken along the line 4%, Fig. 3.

Referring to the drawings by numerical reference characters, 2 designates the bed and 3 the banks of the river course in which the apparatus is installed.

The principal element of my invention consists of a dam 5 which, in practice is placed across the stream to obstruct its flow, as has been shown in the drawings. The dam 5 consists of a preferably rectangular frame composed of two horizontally disposed angle-beams 6 which are connected by a plurality of equidistantly arranged upright T-bars 7. The spaces 5 between the beams 6 and each two successive uprights 7 may be closed by the use of sheet-metal plates 8, which are detachably secured upon the respective T-bars by means of bolts 9, or they may be separately employed as water-passages by the application of ported plates 10 which being secured to the T-bars by the above mentioned bolts 9, connect at the lower ends of their ports 10' with the extremities of sheet-metal flumes 12 which convey the water flowing through the said passages, to a distant point of lower elevation in the stream. The fiumes 12 are each composed of a plurality of flanged sections 12 which are detachably connected, end to end, by means of bolts 16 so that the fiumes may be readily lengthened or shortened in accordance with the extent of the section of the riverbed to be drained. The end portions of the damframe 5 are deflected from its body portion, to increase the stability of the structure when placed across a water course, tie-ropes or cables 14 secured at one of their ends to eye-bolts 13 in the upper angle-beam 6, are provided to anchor the dam to trees, stakes or other fixed objects on the banks of the stream, and in case the current is very strong, bags of sand, rocks or other ballast are placed upon the riverbed against the surface of the dam opposite its water-face, as has been shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings.

In the operation of my invention, the damframe 5 is placed across the stream to be drained, partly embedded in its sides and in its bed, after which it is firmly secured by I the ties and the ballast in the manner hereinbetore described. The ported plates 10 which connect with the flumes 12 are'now applied to a number of the water passages said number varying in accordance with the current-velocity of the stream, and. the remaining passages are imperviously closed by means of the gates 8. By thus obstructing the flow of the stream and conducting the water to a point of lower'elevation in the explored and worked.

It'will be observed that by increasing or decreasing the number of flumes, the apparatus may be readily adapted for use in V streams of difierentcurrent velocities, that the'construction of the flumes of successively.

connected sections permits variation in the extent of the portion of the river-bed to be worked, and that in case of a flood or increase in water pressure upon the dam, the

latter may be saved from destruction or displacement by the removal of part or all of the gates which close those water passages which arenot connected with the flumes.

Having thus described my invention what i claim and desire to secure by Letters-Patent is 1. An apparatus of the class described comprising a dam having a plurality of water-passages, gates adapted to separately j close the-same, and a flume adapted to connect with anyone of said passages for the conveyance of water to a distant point.

2. An apparatus of the class described comprising a dam'having a plurality of water-passages, and flumes and obstructive gates adapted to be interchangeably applied toany one of said passages. V

An apparatus of the class described comprising a portable dam having a waterpassage, aj ported plate adapted to besecured to said dam in connection with said passage, and a flume attached to said plate in connection with its port.

74:. An apparatus of the class described comprising a portable dam having a plurality ofwater-passages, gates to separately close the latter, and sectional flumes adapted to connect with the passages for the conveyance of water to a distant point.

5. An apparatus of the class described comprising a portable dam having a plurality of water-passages, obstructive gates and ported plates adapted to be interchangeably applied to said passages, and flumes connecting with the ports in said plates.

6. An apparatus of the class described comprising a portable dam having a plurality of water-passages, detachable gates closing some of said passages, and detachable flumes connected with the others.

7. An apparatus of the class described comprising a portable dam composed of longitudinal beams connected by upright bars, gates adapted to be attached to each two adjoining bars to close the space between them and flumes constructed to be attached to each two adjoining bars for the conveyance of water passing through the space between them.

8. An apparatus of the class described comprising a portable dam having a waterpa-ssage, a flume adapted to connect with the latter and means for anchoring said dam to objects on the bank of the stream across which it is placed.

7 9. An apparatus of the class described comprising a portable dam composed of longitudinal beams connected by upright bars, and flumes constructed to be attached to two adjoining bars for the conveyance of water passing through the space between them.

- In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES FINKBEINER.

Witnesses G. J. ROLLANDET, 'E. M. KREMPEL.

Copies of this patent maybe obtained for five cents each, by addressing; the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

